Entertainment
MOVIE REVIEW: Tribeca Film Festival – New York City, April 25 - May 6
Fri, May 11, 2007 11:53 am
By Steve Bloom
The 6th Annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) in New York featured 157 films and 88 shorts from April 25 to May 6. Here are five TFF faves, in order of preference:
The Third Wave, directed by Alison Thompson
Thompson’s a HIGH TIMES favorite. After all, she directed our feature film, HIGH TIMES’ Potluck (2003). Ten days after the tsunami hit the coast of Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, 2004, Thompson flew to the devastated country with her producer, Oscar Gubernati, hoping to help out in any way possible. They ended up in the washed over town of Peraliya and began to set up a relief camp with just two other volunteers. Thompson’s nursing experience came in handy; suddenly, she was treating hundreds of flood victims with limited supplies. Mostly she patched up cuts; in one case, after a knife fight between two men, she was called upon to apply stitches. Gradually other volunteers showed up and Sri Lankan officials stopped by and offered their seal of approval. Amazingly, Thompson’s crew was not backed by any relief organization; they just went there and did it themselves. That’s the message of this poignant documentary – that people can make a difference when disaster strikes by just being there and lending a helping hand. Generally, Thompson and her crew were respected by the locals, though disputes broke out over who got assistance and how quickly. This small group had its hands full and simply couldn’t help everyone. By the time they left after six months in Sri Lanka (they departed for a month and then returned for another seven), Thompson was awarded a sash that read “Nightingale.” That’s the least they could do for this amazing woman, who also happened to shoot 250 hours of film (others often manned the cameras) so she could tell her incredible story.
Born and Bred, directed by Pablo Trapero
A car crash leaves Santiago (Guillermo Pfening) at a loss to really know what happened to his wife and daughter on that fateful night. We next find him in the snowy, stark terrain of Argentina’s Patagonia region working at an airport and paling around with roommate Robert (Federico Esquerro) and workmate Cacique (Tomas Lipan). Santiago believes his family perished in the crash, but repeated phones calls from Buenos Aries, which he ignores, indicate otherwise. After a cocaine-fueled binge and the death of Cacique’s wife, Santiago leaves this harsh landscape and heads home to find out what’s left of his old life in Trapero’s compelling drama.
Bomb It, directed by Jon Reiss
Reiss’s exhaustive exploration of graffiti history begins in Philadelphia and New York before crossing oceans and continents to interview taggers and artists in Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Cape Town and Los Angeles. New York bombers Taki 183, Stay 149 and Tracy 168 all add authenticity to this doc, which allows anti-graffiti voices to explain why they continue to ban this highly expressive urban art form.
The King of Kong, directed by Seth Gordon
Ever wonder who scored the most points at Donkey Kong? Gordon’s doc is “Revenge of the Videogame Nerds,” featuring combative players who aim to prove who’s best at getting Mario to the top of the screen and save the pink lady. Billy Mitchell holds the record – 870,000 points – then Steve Wiebe tops it, but isn’t recognized for his achievement when Mitchell sends a videotape of him hitting one million points. This actually makes Wiebe cry. Set in an arcade in New Hampshire and co-starring Walter Day, who since 1982 has been officiating videogame competitions, The King of Kong is a hoot, but it fails to explain the lure and history of the Japanese game that opened the door for Nintendo’s domination of the electronic gaming industry.
Gardener of Eden, directed by Kevin Connolly
One of the most high profile films at Tribeca (Connolly plays Eric on Entourage) stars Lucas Haas as Adam, an oddball post-teen who lives with his parents (his dad, played by David Patrick Kelly, is a wacko Vietnam vet). After he accidentally catches and beats up the neighborhood’s serial rapist, Adam is hailed as a hero and soon begins dating the rapist’s recent victim, Mona (Erika Christensen). He believes he’s found his calling as a vigilante. Adam divorces himself from his friends, especially an extremely sleazy drug dealer played by Giovanni Ribisi, who’s never without a toothpick in his mouth. However, Adam’s rage is never really fleshed out and his violent acts lack meaning. As he heads off to college and Mona faces her attacker in court, the shock ending drops jaws, but leaves you wondering about the movie’s true purpose.
TFF winners:
Best Narrative Feature
My Father My Lord (Hofshat Kaits)
Director: David Volach
Best Documentary
Taxi to the Dark Side
Director: Alex Gibney
Audience Award
We Are Together (Thina Simunye)
Director: Paul Taylor
“Made in NY” Narrative Feature
The Education of Charlie Banks
Director: Fred Durst
“NY Loves Film” Documentary
A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory
Director: Esther Robinson
The 6th Annual Tribeca Film Festival (TFF) in New York featured 157 films and 88 shorts from April 25 to May 6. Here are five TFF faves, in order of preference:
The Third Wave, directed by Alison Thompson
Thompson’s a HIGH TIMES favorite. After all, she directed our feature film, HIGH TIMES’ Potluck (2003). Ten days after the tsunami hit the coast of Sri Lanka on Dec. 26, 2004, Thompson flew to the devastated country with her producer, Oscar Gubernati, hoping to help out in any way possible. They ended up in the washed over town of Peraliya and began to set up a relief camp with just two other volunteers. Thompson’s nursing experience came in handy; suddenly, she was treating hundreds of flood victims with limited supplies. Mostly she patched up cuts; in one case, after a knife fight between two men, she was called upon to apply stitches. Gradually other volunteers showed up and Sri Lankan officials stopped by and offered their seal of approval. Amazingly, Thompson’s crew was not backed by any relief organization; they just went there and did it themselves. That’s the message of this poignant documentary – that people can make a difference when disaster strikes by just being there and lending a helping hand. Generally, Thompson and her crew were respected by the locals, though disputes broke out over who got assistance and how quickly. This small group had its hands full and simply couldn’t help everyone. By the time they left after six months in Sri Lanka (they departed for a month and then returned for another seven), Thompson was awarded a sash that read “Nightingale.” That’s the least they could do for this amazing woman, who also happened to shoot 250 hours of film (others often manned the cameras) so she could tell her incredible story.
Born and Bred, directed by Pablo Trapero
A car crash leaves Santiago (Guillermo Pfening) at a loss to really know what happened to his wife and daughter on that fateful night. We next find him in the snowy, stark terrain of Argentina’s Patagonia region working at an airport and paling around with roommate Robert (Federico Esquerro) and workmate Cacique (Tomas Lipan). Santiago believes his family perished in the crash, but repeated phones calls from Buenos Aries, which he ignores, indicate otherwise. After a cocaine-fueled binge and the death of Cacique’s wife, Santiago leaves this harsh landscape and heads home to find out what’s left of his old life in Trapero’s compelling drama.
Bomb It, directed by Jon Reiss
Reiss’s exhaustive exploration of graffiti history begins in Philadelphia and New York before crossing oceans and continents to interview taggers and artists in Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Cape Town and Los Angeles. New York bombers Taki 183, Stay 149 and Tracy 168 all add authenticity to this doc, which allows anti-graffiti voices to explain why they continue to ban this highly expressive urban art form.
The King of Kong, directed by Seth Gordon
Ever wonder who scored the most points at Donkey Kong? Gordon’s doc is “Revenge of the Videogame Nerds,” featuring combative players who aim to prove who’s best at getting Mario to the top of the screen and save the pink lady. Billy Mitchell holds the record – 870,000 points – then Steve Wiebe tops it, but isn’t recognized for his achievement when Mitchell sends a videotape of him hitting one million points. This actually makes Wiebe cry. Set in an arcade in New Hampshire and co-starring Walter Day, who since 1982 has been officiating videogame competitions, The King of Kong is a hoot, but it fails to explain the lure and history of the Japanese game that opened the door for Nintendo’s domination of the electronic gaming industry.
Gardener of Eden, directed by Kevin Connolly
One of the most high profile films at Tribeca (Connolly plays Eric on Entourage) stars Lucas Haas as Adam, an oddball post-teen who lives with his parents (his dad, played by David Patrick Kelly, is a wacko Vietnam vet). After he accidentally catches and beats up the neighborhood’s serial rapist, Adam is hailed as a hero and soon begins dating the rapist’s recent victim, Mona (Erika Christensen). He believes he’s found his calling as a vigilante. Adam divorces himself from his friends, especially an extremely sleazy drug dealer played by Giovanni Ribisi, who’s never without a toothpick in his mouth. However, Adam’s rage is never really fleshed out and his violent acts lack meaning. As he heads off to college and Mona faces her attacker in court, the shock ending drops jaws, but leaves you wondering about the movie’s true purpose.
TFF winners:
Best Narrative Feature
My Father My Lord (Hofshat Kaits)
Director: David Volach
Best Documentary
Taxi to the Dark Side
Director: Alex Gibney
Audience Award
We Are Together (Thina Simunye)
Director: Paul Taylor
“Made in NY” Narrative Feature
The Education of Charlie Banks
Director: Fred Durst
“NY Loves Film” Documentary
A Walk into the Sea: Danny Williams and The Warhol Factory
Director: Esther Robinson
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